WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — The family of an American civilian shown beheaded on
an Islamic militant Web site huddled in in tears Tuesday after learning of the
existence of the graphic videotape.

The video showed Nick Berg, 26, in a staged execution carried out by an al-Qaida
affiliated group. The video said the killing was to avenge the abuse of Iraqi
prisoners by American soldiers.

"My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael, my mother's name is
Suzanne," the man said on the video before being killed. "I have a brother and
sister, David and Sara. I live in ... Philadelphia."

Berg's family said U.S. State Department officials on Monday had told them
Berg was decapitated. The family, though, had wanted that information to
remain private.

When told about the Web site, Berg's father, brother and sister, grasped one
another in a standing hug and slowly dropped to the ground, where they quietly
shed a few tears while holding on to each other.

"I knew he was decapitated before," said the father, Michael Berg. "That
manner is preferable to a long and torturous death. But I didn't want it to
become public."

Michael Berg lashed out at the U.S. military and Bush administration, saying
his son might still be alive had he not been detained by U.S. officials in
Iraq without being charged and without access to a lawyer.

Nick Berg, a small telecommunications business owner, spoke to his parents on
March 24 and told them he would return home on March 30. But Berg was detained
by Iraqi police at a checkpoint in Mosul on March 24. He was turned over to
U.S. officials and detained for 13 days.

His father, Michael, said his son wasn't allowed to make phone calls or
contact a lawyer.

FBI agents visited Berg's parents in West Chester on March 31 and told the
family they were trying to confirm their son's identity. On April 5, the Bergs
filed suit in federal court in Philadelphia, contending that their son was
being held illegally by the U.S. military. The next day Berg was released. He
told his parents he hadn't been mistreated.

Michael Berg said he blamed the U.S. government for creating circumstances
that led to his son's death. He said if his son hadn't been detained for so
long, he might have been able to leave the country before the violence
worsened.

"I think a lot of people are fed up with the lack of civil rights this thing
has caused," he said. "I don't think this administration is committed to
democracy."

The Bergs last heard from their son April 9, when he said he would come home
by way of Jordan.

Berg had traveled several times to Third World countries to help spread
technology, his family said. He had previously traveled to Kenya and Ghana,
where they said he had purchased a $900 brick-making press for a poor village,
the family said.

Berg's mother, Suzanne Berg, said her son was in Iraq to help rebuild
communication antennas.

"He had this idea that he could help rebuild the infrastructure," she said.

Michael Berg described himself as fervently anti-war, but said his son
disagreed with him.

"He was a Bush supporter," Berg said. "He looked at it as bringing democracy
to a country that didn't have it."

Suzanne Berg said she was told her son's body would be transported to Kuwait
and then to Dover, Del. She said the family had been trying for weeks to learn
where their son was but that federal officials had not been helpful.

Now here's an even
more disturbing thought. Was Berg detained by the military because the
Pentagon's rogue operatives saw a chance to use the innocent contractor as a
"horrifying tragedy" to deflect attention from the Abu Ghraib scandal and put
attention back on the usual bogeyman Al Qaeda? They had to hold him long
enough to set the "capture" and taped murder up. Although the Pentagon claims
the men in the film are known Al Qaeda operatives, including Osama's right
hand man, their head are all completely and conveniently hooded. After what I
have seen in recent weeks, I don't put anything past the Rumsfeld Pentagon.
They and Al Qaeda are birds of a feather.